AA Sox sweep Hot Springs Village
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — In the first game of their doubleheader on Tuesday, June 16, the Bryant Sport Shop Black Sox AA American Legion team out-slugged Hot Springs Village, 9-7, with Jordan Gentry belting a solo homer. In the second game, Sox right-hander C.J. Wallace shackled HSV on three hits over four innings, accounting for nine of the 12 outs with strikeouts, in a 7-0 win.
The sweep improved the Sox to 8-4 on the season going into a scheduled game against Hot Spring Lakeside on Friday. A trip to Morrilton for a twinbill is set for Tuesday, June 23.
Against Hot Springs Village, Wallace allowed a lead-off double in the second then a single and a two-out walk in the third. In the fourth, he worked around a two-out single. He struck out the side in the first and the third then fanned two more in the fourth.
Offensively, the Sox scored in each frame. In the opening stanza, Joey Cates walked, Gentry singled and Caleb Chaffin picked up an RBI with a groundout.
In the second, Daniel Darbonne cracked a one-out single and, with two down, Brandon Hoover walked. When Wallace struck out on a pitch in the dirt, he was able to reach first before the catcher’s throw could get there and Darbonne hustled home to make it 2-0.
In the third, Gentry singled and Chaffin reached on a third-strike wild pitch. Hunter Oglesby moved the runners up on tap to the mound and, with two down, another third-strike wild pitch loaded the bases as Darbonne reached. That set the stage for Myers Buck who ripped an RBI single. Hoover then drew another walk to force in a run to make it 4-0.
A fourth-inning uprising started with another walk to Cates. Gentry cracked his third hit and, with one out, Oglesby drilled a two-run double. Matthew Sandidge walked but Darbonne got a squeeze bunt down to plate Oglesby with the final run.
In the first game, the Sox picked up an early 2-0 lead as Cates walked, Oglesby doubled him in, Chaffin walked and Sandidge grounded into a force for an RBI.
Hot Springs Village picked up a run on a pair of hits in the bottom of the inning and it stayed 2-1 until the third. While Darbonne was keeping HSV off the board by pitching around a hit batsman and a single in the second then a pair of singles in the third, the Sox increased their lead.
Gentry opened the third with a single. Chaffin walked and Sandidge singled. Buck bounced into a force at the plate but, with two down, Alex Thompson came through with a two-run double. A single by Drew Brown made it 5-1.
In the top of the fourth, Gentry cracked the second pitch for hit home run.
Hot Springs Village took advantage of a pair of walks with an error and a two-out hit to cut the margin to 6-3.
But Sport Shop got three more in the fifth. Darbonne led off with a single and, after Thompson walked, Brown slapped a base hit to right. Darbonne tried to score on the play but was thrown out at the plate. Cates, however, followed with a triple to plate two. He then scored on Oglesby’s sacrifice fly to make it 9-3.
Darbonne worked around a lead-off single in the bottom of the fifth with the half of a doubleplay off a liner to short. Bryant, in the meantime, had another runner thrown out the plate in the top of the sixth. Sandidge singled and tried to score on a hit by Buck only to be nabbed at the plate.
In the bottom of the sixth, Hot Springs Village rallied after a lead-off error. With the lead whittled to 9-7, Darbonne ended it with a strikeout.
